GUMA’ GELA’:
PART LAND, PART SEA, ALL ANCESTRY

June 9, 2023 through June 15, 2024 in the George Tsutakawa Art Gallery

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT

Guma’ Gela’: Part Land, Part Sea, All Ancestry
June 9, 2023 - June 15, 2024
George Tsutakawa Art Gallery

Featuring the work of the Guma' Gela', a queer CHamoru art collective made up of members from the Marianas and in the diaspora. The exhibit explores their motto "part land, part sea, all ancestry" through a broad spectrum of media, including sculpture, soundscape, writing, printmaking, weaving, costume design, adornments, and more, to build a connection with CHamoru life, history, and traditions.

This exhibit features artwork from 13 artists from the Pacific Northwest and Guåhan including Såhi Velasco, Santino Camacho, Roldy Ablao, Roquin Siongco, So’le Celestial, Nancy Mariano, Monaeka Flores, Clay Aflleje, Edward Acfalle Jr., Dakota Alcantara-Camacho, Jessica Vergel, Robert Patrick S. Palomo, and Elyse-Noelle Bais.

MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Roldy Ablao, a featured artist in the Guma’ Gela’ exhibit, says that this exhibit represents long-needed inclusion in AAPI storytelling which tends to favor East Asian voices. “Historically, Pacific Islander stories have been overshadowed by Asian American narratives through broader oppressive systems of settler colonialism that seek to erase us as Indigenous peoples. Having a CHamoru exhibit reaffirms our existence, stories, and experiences within the broader AAPI community.”

“We bring the entirety of our hearts, souls, and community into this work, hoping that it helps to heal the wounds that colonization has left our community through our indigenous ways of being. Through the inafa’maolek and agofli’e, we have for our Transgender and Queer CHamoru relatives and ancestors.” - Roldy Ablao

For Ablao, the artwork is a way to honor and share indigenous culture through the lens of queerness in a way that promotes healing and spiritual wellness. “This exhibit centers on the works of Transgender and Queer CHamoru artists. This exhibit celebrates our stories and existences as Gela’s members of our community. Many of the pieces embody our collective practices of CHamoru Trans and Queer grief, joy, intimacy, kinship, futurity, and healing,”

Talaya 3000, 2022. Photo courtesy of the artist

IDENTITY AND HEALING & ART WITH MEANING

Photo by MXT Visuals

From a very young age, Såhi Velasco (they/them) knew they wanted to be an artist. As they came of age and grew up witnessing systematic oppression in the BIPOC community, their mission was forged. Today, the self-taught artist is a sought-after local creative and long-time contributing artist at the Wing Luke Museum.

“As I progressed in my life, went to school, finished college, focused on studying sociology and learning more about the impacts of systemic oppression on communities, especially Black and brown communities of color, I learned more about the ways my values aligned with my creativity and how to bring those stories together”.

Såhi, who is a co-founding member of the Guma’ Gela’ Collective, is a former teaching artist at the Wing Luke Museum. They are also an Artist-in-Residence at King Street Station, commissioning graphic art and facilitating dance and healing workshops.

“I think a lot about what inspires me is accessing joy, telling stories, connecting to my CHamoru ancestry. My work here in Seattle has always been rooted in community and in particular, Pacific Islander Communities, CHamoru Communities, Queer and Trans, Black and Indigenous Communities and being able to reflect portraits that define connection, relationships.”

“I think that this particular exhibit is our invitation to people to think about healing, to remind ourselves that we can heal in our totality … and give ourselves permission to be seen, to exist authentically and within our whole selves. I think that when you walk into this space, in our exhibit, you immediately feel that.”

“For us as Pasifika artists... we were so, so grateful to have so much space to celebrate our stories, our individual art, our fashion and videos. It was such an honor for us to be invited and to be reminded that our work is important.” Read more in our 2023 Annual Report.